Radio Sites and Bad Weather

Hey Firefighter Mic here! It sure is rainy and blustery out, not surprising this time of year in the Northwest!

Speaking of icky weather, one of things we have to do when we are building radio towers is make sure that they can withstand bad weather conditions! For example radio towers have antennas and microwave dishes on them—no not like the microwave or dishes you have in your kitchen but these play a part in the communications between radio towers. This equipment is very delicate and we have to protect them from things like ice that can fall from the top of the tower. So we use ice shields on them to protect them from large icicles.

Now towers themselves are pretty resilient in bad weather but high winds or lightning strikes can cause us to have to stop working at a site to make sure our crew stays safe! Especially if we are at a site in the mountains which can be pretty treacherous at times.

Snow can also play a part in work holding up work at radio site. There is a big vehicle called a Snow Cat that we can drive right on top of the snow or if that doesn’t work then we call in a helicopter to airlift in materials! It’s so cool! I hope to ride in one soon!

Well until next time! Stay dry in all the Northwest rain!

-FF Mic

As you can see there is a lot of snow at the mountain sites. I almost had to dig myself out of this pile here!